This second five-year term like no other is far from over, yet 2027 and its cohort of putative candidates are already moving forward. This last reshuffle with Gabriel Attal at its head – and which puts Rachida Dati back in the saddle – is a new turning point. Behind the scenes, some are learning to dodge tripping, others are familiarizing themselves with the art of conspiracy, in short, everyone is preparing for the post-Emmanuel Macron era with rigor and determination. The political service of L’Express offers to help you follow, thanks to a weekly meeting on our website, the progress of these ambitious people who hope to climb, quickly and without injury, the steps of power.
Elected officials’ expenses: a failure for the National Rally
About-face for the National Rally. Wednesday January 24, during a meeting of the Bureau of the National Assembly, the far-right party, represented by its two vice-presidents, Hélène Laporte and Sébastien Chenu (Marine Le Pen was not present), voted for an increase in AFM (Assistance with Mandate Costs). Oops. This Thursday morning, they quickly published a press release to request “the postponement indefinitely” of this increase. “A failure”, affirmed Marine Le Pen this morning on the sidelines of her wishes to the press, ensuring that the increase in the AFM had been mentioned during a meeting two weeks ago, at which the two interested parties did not had not participated. “I think that politics is a matter of symbols, and this one was not the right one,” added the member for Pas-de-Calais.
Philippe Olivier, the kid and the rabbit
The MEP and advisor to Marine Le Pen supports the farmers’ movement and even has some ideas for farmers to make their voices heard more. Marked by a trip to the Netherlands, he suggested that French farmers take inspiration from Dutch methods of action. “They must do as they do, address the population and not the public authorities,” believes Philippe Olivier. “It is public opinion that will put pressure on the government.” And to specify: “They have to go to the markets to put a little rabbit in the arms of a kid.” No matter what turn the emerging crisis takes, to the question “who benefits from this anger?”, Marine Le Pen’s strategist answers without hesitation: “To us.”
The Elysée has Philippe in its sights
Edouard Philippe is not happy to be kept away from the major maneuvers which led to the arrival of the Attal government? “The president does not get up every morning wondering what he thinks about it,” asserts a Macronist from the inner circle. “We cannot complain about a collective after having refused several times to be part of it.” The former Prime Minister was approached by intermediaries a few months ago to replace Pap Ndiaye at National Education.
Vautrin – Dati: we have the same jersey, but not the same passion
“It was Dati who embodied the left wing of the government, can you believe that?”, laughs a minister. The reason for his amusement? A small exchange of arms between former LR, the new Minister of Culture and the other flagship recruit, Catherine Vautrin, during a meeting in Matignon to prepare Gabriel Attal’s general policy speech. The Minister of Labor, particularly offensive, insisted on the need to “put the French back to work”. In short: idleness is over. Rachida Dati, for her part, did not hesitate to curb her comrade’s enthusiasm: “Hey, we’re not going back to this like that, I already didn’t agree with Wauquiez on the cancer of assistantship , so it’s not to relive the same thing here!” How good it is to meet again…
Vautrin targeted by the MoDem
Did you know, François Bayrou is furious. Like after every redesign, you will tell us. “It always goes badly,” thundered a leader of the Democratic Movement a few days ago. “Balances are established and, in the end, this is never what is planned. This is not acceptable.” In addition to questions of arithmetic, it is also the new faces of the government that annoy the centrists. Not so much Rachida Dati, who was Bayrou’s advisor to the Ministry of Education and maintains a special relationship with the mayor of Pau. But Catherine Vautrin, the new Minister of Labor and Health, Sarkozyst among Sarkozysts: “It is Sarkozy and Hollande who killed family policy in this country, how can we not have doubts about Vautrin, snaps at another party executive. Appointments are good, but to do what? On the birth rate, the end of life, progressivism, Vautrin who will provide guarantees on these subjects perhaps?” Between the MoDem and certain ministers who regret her conservative positions, Catherine Vautrin is not entering the government on conquered territory.
The right in all its divisions
Aurélien Pradié was startled when he read that David Lisnard, LR mayor of Cannes with avowed national ambitions, entrusted the responsibility of working on his project to former minister Hervé Novelli, because he had been able to be inventive in creating the status self-employed. “It was one of my first fights,” says the deputy from Lot, a former Republican presidential candidate. “This system is madness and generates a job market that is the opposite of all my principles.”
Socialists and ecologists: the time of tensions
Gone is the gentle strategy dear to Marie Toussaint for the European campaign? “I do not believe, for example, that those who are against the A69 and the big useless projects will join Carole Delga’s party,” the head of the green list said at the desk during her meeting in the North, to respond to those who would like to see his candidacy joined to that of Raphaël Glucksmann. And the boss of EELV, Marine Tondelier, drives home the point by denouncing “Alain Rousset who supports megabasins in New Aquitaine, or Loïg Chesnais-Girard, who supports agribusiness in Brittany”. “It’s shameful to say that, breathes an environmentalist. We criticize the Socialist Party of Aquitaine, but with whom does Pierre Hurmic govern? Too bad, with the socialists of Aquitaine! Same in Brittany, where we are in the majority of the socialist town hall of Rennes. In Occitania too, we governed for a long time with Carole Delga. It’s lamentable, in all these regions, we do things with the Socialist Party.”
And Olivier Faure reframes the communists
Decidedly on the left, since the Nupes is no more, the pleasantries have resumed with a vengeance… The “non-aggression pact” that many hoped for for the European campaign has already been shattered. The boss of the Socialist Party Olivier Faure is particularly angry with Léon Desfontaine, the young communist candidate and faithful soldier of Fabien Roussel, who recently accused Raphaël Glucksmann of being the candidate of “the dollar left which accommodates liberalism”. Olivier Faure says he is “shocked” by his words: “It’s as if we were saying that he was the candidate of the left, Stalin.”
Attal “chosen for his ability to be stepped on”
Good year. This Wednesday, on the sidelines of her greetings to the press, at the National Assembly, Marine Le Pen took the opportunity to send her wishes to the new head of government. “I have never seen a Prime Minister so humiliated in a few days,” the Pas-de-Calais MP slipped in front of an army of journalists. “Emmanuel Macron speaks before his general policy speech, Bruno Le Maire steals his announcement on electricity, he is stepped on, he has no authority, but perhaps he was chosen for his ability to get stepped on.”
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